Remembering less

I have this theory that with the ubiquity of data it's hard to remember most of it. At least that applies to me.

I find that I come across a lot of good information but because I know I can look it up in the cloud I don't exert myself much and in the end forget the data and forget where to find it. (You can only bookmark so much.)

Stephen Baker's recent post on BusinessWeek.com made me realize I may not be the only one. (Link to full post here.) An excerpt:

Our machines these days maintain and transmit most of our numbers. We don't need to memorize many of them anymore. But since we do still maintain memory capability in our brains, even if it's vestigial, which numbers should we store up there? I'd say a phone number is a good start. People ask for it occasionally. Forms demand it. Social security number would be useful too. Maybe we'll work on that one today.